Luxury groups Burberry, Mulberry shaken by outlooks

 Luxury handbag maker Burberry warned over its outlook on Tuesday, as smaller rival Mulberry issued a profit warning against a background of global growth strains, sending their shares crashing.
Burberry headed the losers board on London's benchmark FTSE 100 index with a fall of 4.26 percent to 1,416 pence in morning deals. The FTSE was down a modest 0.18 percent at 6,354.88 points.
Shares in Mulberry plunged to a loss of 18 percent to 615 pence on the wider FTSE index.
"Shares in luxury retailer Burberry are bottom of the FTSE (100) pile this morning as shareholders react to management caution on profits due to a 'more difficult external environment' which we assume relates to concerns about the global economy," said Mike van Dulken, head of research at traders Accendo Markets.
He added that the warning comes amid "softer growth from the likes of China and Europe... and the recent impact of Ebola on travel plans/consumption".
Burberry said its underlying sales for the six months to September 30 rose 14 percent to £1.1 billion ($1.8 billion, 1.4 billion euros), compared with the equivalent period the previous year.
And "while the negative impact of foreign exchange (rates) on full year reported profit has recently reduced, this benefit will be partly offset by the more difficult external environment", Burberry said in its trading update.
Mulberry meanwhile said that "trading conditions have been more difficult than expected" for the group, adding that its pre-tax profit for the 12 months to March "is expected to be significantly below current expectations".